Systems and methods for improving invoice management using enhanced analytical insight

ABSTRACT

An improved invoice management product may include an invoice hub server and an invoice database, and may receive data including one or more invoices, transmit one or more invoice records to an invoice database, identify one or more invoice records for expedited processing, transmit a request to issue an advance payment to a supplier associated with one or more supplier identifiers associated with the one or more invoice records, and transmit a notice to a customer. An Invoice Hub server may receive data comprising one or more invoices, create one or more invoice records based on the one or more invoices, transmit the one or more invoice records to an invoice database, identify one or more invoice records for expedited processing, transmit a request to issue an advance payment to a supplier, and transmit a notice to a customer associated with the one or more invoice records.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems forimproving the management of electronic invoices.

BACKGROUND

Small and medium sized businesses (SMB) often struggle to findaffordable financing options. Existing solutions are often hard toobtain and may incur significant borrowing costs to SMBs. Financialsolutions offered by various financial institutions typically carryeffective annual percentage rates (APR) of 10% to 70%, or even higherAPRs. Many of the financial institutions offering financial solutionsmay require payment of additional fees (e.g., account fees), even if afinancial solution is not being utilized by an SMB. The financingproblem for SMBs may be magnified, as large companies often use marketpower and market influences to push out the payment terms that theyoffer to their suppliers. When payment terms are extended, suppliers maybe forced to seek and find additional financing to cover the supplier'sexpenses for payment terms that have become extended, often to asignificant degree.

There exists financial solutions for SMBs to obtain financing for theirbusiness. Some examples of existing financial solutions includefactoring of invoices, financial tech (FinTech) lenders, and supplychain finance. Factoring of invoices (also known as factoring) is afinancial transaction and a type of debtor finance when a business sellsits accounts receivable (e.g., invoices) to a third party, often at adiscount. One significant downside of factoring of invoices products isthat such products generally require factoring all invoices for asignificant period of time, often one to three years. FinTech lendersare companies that focus on lending financing to companies, oftenstartup companies. Some FinTech lenders focus on the SMB space, andtypically offer loans with APRs of 25-99%. Often, additional fees andrestrictions exist with these loans. Supply chain finance (SCF) is aproduct similar to FinTech lenders, and often provides attractivepricing, but generally has more limited availability for SMBs. Onedownside of supply chain finance is that SMBs often need to log intoeach SCF system separately in order to check invoices that are availablefor financing.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Systems and methods for providing technological improvements andsolutions in invoice management include an unconventional Invoice Hubserver providing improved analytical insights for facilitating invoiceprocessing.

For example, a method for improving the management of an invoice mayinclude receiving, at an invoice hub server, data including one or moreinvoices, creating, by the invoice hub server, one or more invoicerecords based on the one or more invoices, transmitting, by the invoicehub server, the one or more invoice records to an invoice database,identifying, by the invoice hub server, a set of the one or more invoicerecords for expedited processing, based on identifying the set of theone or more invoice records for expedited processing, transmitting, bythe invoice hub server, a request to issue an advance payment to asupplier associated with the one or more supplier identifiers associatedwith the set of the one or more invoice records identified for expeditedprocessing, transmitting an advance payment notice to a customerassociated with the one or more customer names associated with the oneor more invoice records identified for expedited processing.

In some embodiments, the method may include receiving, by the invoicehub server, a request for information, retrieving the one or moreinvoice records from the invoice database, preparing, by the invoice hubserver, a customer invoice summary of the one or more invoice records,and transmitting, by the invoice hub server, the customer invoicesummary.

In some embodiments, the method may include generating, by the invoicehub server, an invoice score, identifying, by the invoice hub server, aninvoice score threshold, comparing, by the invoice hub server, theinvoice score to the invoice score threshold; identifying, by theinvoice hub server, a list of one or more responsive invoice records,and generating, by the invoice hub server, an invoice report based onthe list of responsive invoice records.

In some embodiments, the method may include comparing the one or moreinvoice amounts associated with the one or more invoice records with anadvance limit.

In some embodiments, the method may include creating, by the invoice hubserver, one or more invoice business rules, comparing, by the invoicehub server, the one or more invoice records to the one or more invoicebusiness rules, in response to comparing the one or more invoice recordsto the one or more invoice business rules, generating one or moreadditional invoice business rules, and transmitting, by the invoice hubserver, an invoice payment request.

In some embodiments, the method may include, in response to transmittingthe customer invoice summary to the customer, receiving, by the invoicehub server, a customer request, transmitting, by the invoice hub server,an update request to the invoice database, and transmitting, by theinvoice hub server, a message to the customer.

In some embodiments, the method may include receiving, by the invoicehub server, additional data from the third party platform, transmitting,by the invoice hub server, an update request for the one or more invoicerecords to the invoice database, and transmitting, by the invoice hubserver, a status update to the third party platform.

As another example, a system may be configured to provide improvedmanagement of an invoice. The system may include a database and aninvoice hub server in communication with the database, and the invoicehub server may include a processor and a non-transitory memory, thememory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, causethe processor to perform processing including receiving data comprisingone or more invoices, creating one or more invoice records based on theone or more invoices, transmitting the one or more invoice records to adatabase, identifying one or more invoice records for expeditedprocessing, flagging the one or more invoice records, transmitting arequest to issue an advance payment to a supplier associated with theone or more supplier identifiers associated with the one or more flaggedinvoice records; and transmitting a notice to a customer associated withthe one or more customer names further associated with the one or moreflagged invoice records.

In some embodiments, the processing may include receiving a request froma customer for information, transmitting a request to the database,receiving the requested one or more invoice records from the database,preparing a customer invoice summary of the one or more invoice records,and transmitting the customer invoice summary to the customer.

In some embodiments, the processing may include identifying a list ofone or more responsive invoice records, and generating a report based onthe list of responsive invoice records.

In some embodiments, the processing may include transmitting the list ofresponsive invoice records to the third party platform.

In some embodiments, the processing may include creating one or morebusiness rules, comparing the one or more invoice records to the one ormore business rules, and transmitting an invoice payment request.

In some embodiments, the processing may include, in response totransmitting the customer invoice summary to the customer, receiving acustomer request, transmitting an update request to the database, andtransmitting a message to the customer.

In some embodiments, the processing may include receiving additionaldata from the third party platform, transmitting an update request forthe one or more invoice records to the database, and transmitting astatus update to the third party platform.

As another example, a method for improving the management of an invoicemay include receiving, at an invoice hub server, data comprising one ormore invoices, creating, by the invoice hub server, one or more invoicerecords based on the one or more invoices, transmitting, by the invoicehub server, the one or more invoice records to an invoice database,identifying one or more invoice records for expedited processing,flagging the one or more invoice records, transmitting, by the invoicehub server, a request to issue an advance payment to a supplierassociated with the one or more supplier identifiers associated with theone or more flagged invoice records, and transmitting a notice to acustomer associated with the one or more customer names furtherassociated with the one or more flagged invoice records.

In some embodiments, the method may include receiving, by the invoicehub server, a request from the customer for information, transmitting,by the invoice hub server, a request to the invoice database, receiving,by the invoice hub server, the requested one or more invoice recordsfrom the invoice database, preparing, by the invoice hub server, acustomer invoice summary of the one or more invoice records, andtransmitting, by the invoice hub server, the customer invoice summary tothe customer.

In some embodiments, the method may include creating, by the invoice hubserver, one or more invoice business rules, comparing, by the invoicehub server, the one or more invoice records to the one or more invoicebusiness rules, and transmitting, by the invoice hub server, a requestto a second third party platform.

In some embodiments, the method may include, in response to transmittingthe summary to the customer, receiving, by the invoice hub server, acustomer request, transmitting, by the invoice hub server, an updaterequest to the invoice database, and transmitting, by the invoice hubserver, a message to the customer.

In some embodiments, the method may include receiving, by the invoicehub server, additional data from the third party platform, transmitting,by the invoice hub server, an update request for the one or more invoicerecords to the invoice database, and transmitting, by the invoice hubserver, a status update to the third party platform.

In some embodiments, the method may include receiving a paymentindicator, transmitting, by the invoice hub server, a second updaterequest for the one or more invoice records to the invoice database, andtransmitting a notice of payment to the supplier associated with the oneor more supplier identifiers further associated with the one or moreflagged invoice records.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a system with an Invoice Hub server and other servers anduser devices according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows an Invoice Hub Server according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show technological features of the Invoice Hub serveraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a system with an Invoice Hub server and other customer andenterprise systems according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a user interface for enabling a customer to interact withthe Invoice Hub server and for perform actions done by the Invoice Hubserver according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows an Invoice Hub server registration process according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows an Invoice Hub server invoice identification and processingmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a supplier profile update process according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows an Invoice Hub server invoice identification and processingmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of thepresent disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and described herein. In the drawings, likereference numerals are sometimes used to designate like structuralelements. It should also be appreciated that the depictions in thefigures are diagrammatic and not to scale.

Systems and methods for providing advanced invoice management by anInvoice Hub server are described below. The advanced invoice managementsystems and methods described in this disclosure provide a technologicalsolution to an issue rooted in technology, including improved systemsand methods for processing and analyzing disparate data in large volumesat scale from multiple sources. The disclosed techniques may beimplemented to identify invoices for expedited processing based onvarious factors.

The Invoice Hub server may unconventionally utilize data from thirdparty platforms, such as eInvoicing platforms, and provide an analyticalinformation-based platform for managing invoices. For example, theInvoice Hub server may analyze rich data from third party platforms,including data on suppliers and buyers (e.g., a customer of a supplier),and the Invoice Hub server may analyze invoices relating to a supplierand a buyer, and identify correlating and corresponding relationshipsthat have attractive payment characteristics, which may be indicative ofrelative risk.

The Invoice Hub server may include artificial intelligence (AI) ormachine learning (ML) modules and systems for identifying relationshipsrelating to invoices and for making decisions relating to invoices. TheInvoice Hub server may provide funds for invoices having attractivepayment characteristics, and may offer the funds for lower-riskinvoices. The AI/ML modules and systems in the Invoice Hub server mayanalyze data from customers and/or third party platforms. Such analyzingof invoice data may include analyzing historical invoices, includinginformation relating to such invoices, for example invoice amount,actual paid amount, invoice due date, actual date paid, and otherinformation that may be included or associated with an invoice.

The AI/ML modules and systems may include logic for generating scores asto a supplier, a buyer, or for a particular invoice, and present suchscores, for example a Buyer Payment Likelihood score and a PaymentOn-Time Likelihood score, to a customer through a customized and dynamicuser interface. A user interface may be provided by the Invoice Hubserver to provide invoice visibility to customers, and customers mayreview and select invoices to process, and filter invoices to identifyinvoices that may have more favorable terms for the customer. TheInvoice Hub server may contain AI/ML for automatically identifying andselecting invoices to process for a supplier, as discussed in furtherdetail in the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary network with the Invoice Hubserver 110 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Thenetwork may include a firewall 128, or other device that limits externalaccess to a network, that separates external networks, for example anexternal site 102, an external secured file transfer protocol (SFTP)site, and a user device 126 (running, e.g., on a local network, forexample a home network), with an invoice processing network 100.Operations 106 may be part of invoice processing network 100, andinvoice processing network 100 may also include enterprise systems 108.

External site 102 may be a third party that receives invoices based on asupplier-customer relationship. For example, a supplier and a customer(e.g., buyer) may enter into a contract, where the supplier agrees toprovide goods to the customer. The supplier may generate an invoicethrough the third party, and the third party can track the invoicethrough payment from the customer. External SFTP site 104 may be a thirdparty site for transferring invoice related data between the third partymanaging the external SFTP site 104 and operations 106. In someembodiments, the invoice related data may be directly transferred fromexternal SFTP site 104 to Invoice Hub server 110.

User device 126 may be a smartphone, tablet, laptop computer, desktopcomputer, or other device configured to display information on a screenand access the invoice processing network. The user device 126 canaccess the invoice processing network through a user portal for example.The user device 126 may send user data and user requests to Invoice Hubserver 110 through a network, for example the Internet, a publicnetwork, a private network, or combination thereof. The user data and/oruser requests may pass through firewall 128 and be received by InternetHub server 110, which can then process the user data or respond to auser request. While the network shown in FIG. 1 shows the user device126 in communication with Invoice Hub device 110 through firewall 128, anetwork (not shown), and a communication path 138, other configurationsare possible.

Operations 106 may include multiple user devices that may access InvoiceHub server 110 and enterprise systems 108. The user devices used foroperations 106 may be similar to user device 126, and may be asmartphone, tablet, laptop computer, desktop computer, or other deviceconfigured to display information on a screen. Operations 106 includes aconnection 134 to enterprise system 108 and a connection 136 to InvoiceHub server 110.

Enterprise systems may include various subparts, including enterprisefinancial systems 112, audit logging service 114, system logging service116, tokenization service application programming interface (API),secure access service 120, customer core/efficient consumer response(ECR) service 122, and customer identity service 124. As shown in FIG.1, Invoice Hub server communicates with enterprise systems 108,including with various subparts identified previously.

As mentioned above, Invoice Hub server 110 may communicate with any ofenterprise system components 112 through 124. For example, Invoice Hubserver 110 may send and receive information from enterprise financialsystems 112. In some embodiments, Invoice Hub server 110 may send arequest to enterprise financial systems 112 regarding a currentfinancial performance of an existing customer (e.g., an SMB), and inresponse receive information that can be used for various purposes. Insome embodiments, information received by the Invoice Hub server 110from the enterprise financial systems 112 may be used to inform theapproval of a customer, and a probability assessment of whether aninvoice(s) will be approved and paid based on analysis performed byInvoice Hub server 110. In other embodiments, third party sites(including both internal and external sites) can be used to providefinancial data to enterprise financial systems. The financial data fromenterprise financial system 112 can be used for various purposes byInvoice Hub server 110, as described in this disclosure. In someembodiments, Invoice Hub server 110 may be configured to provide logicfor automatically determining risk assessment (for both suppliers andpossible buyers) using artificial intelligence or machine learning. Suchautomated processes are further described in this disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing system 200 that maybe provided as part of Invoice Hub server 110 that may implement variousfeatures and processes as described herein. The Invoice Hub server 110may be implemented on an electronic device that runs softwareapplications derived from compiled instructions, including withoutlimitation personal computers and servers. In some implementations, thecomputing system 200 may include one or more processors 202, one or moreinput devices 204, one or more display devices 210, one or more networkinterfaces 208, and one or more computer-readable mediums 214. Each ofthese components may be coupled by bus 212.

In some embodiments, Invoice Hub server 200 may include one or moreprocessors 202, one or more network interfaces 208, and one or morecomputer-readable mediums 214, and may be accessed, for example formaintenance, by an external device, such as a personal computer. TheInvoice Hub service 224 may include logic for performing the variousmethods and processes described herein. Display device 210 may be anyknown display technology, including but not limited to display devicesusing Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Light Emitting Diode (LED)technology. Processor(s) 202 may use any known processor technology,including but not limited to graphics processors and multi-coreprocessors. Input device 204 may be any known input device technology,including but not limited to a keyboard (including a virtual keyboard),mouse, track ball, and touch-sensitive pad or display. Bus 212 may beany known internal or external bus technology used for exchangingcommunications, for example ISA, EISA, PCI, PCI Express, NuBus, USB,Serial ATA and FireWire. Computer-readable medium 214 may be any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to processor(s) 202 forexecution, including without limitation, non-volatile storage media,such as optical disks, magnetic disks, flash drives, etc., or volatilemedia, such as SDRAM and ROM.

Computer-readable medium 214 may include various instructions 220 forimplementing an operating system, for example a server operating systemsoftware. The operating system may be multi-user and includemultiprocessing, multitasking, multithreading, real-time, and othercapabilities. The operating system may perform basic tasks, includingbut not limited to recognizing input from input device(s) 204, sendingoutput to display device 210, maintaining files and directories oncomputer-readable medium 214, controlling peripheral devices (e.g., diskdrives, printers, etc.) that may be controlled either directly orthrough an I/O controller, and managing traffic on bus 212. Networkcommunications instructions 222 may establish and maintain networkconnections (e.g., software for implementing communication protocols,such as TCP/IP, HTTP, Ethernet, telephony, etc.).

The described features may be implemented in one or more computerprograms that may be executable on a programmable system including atleast one programmable processor coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a datastorage system, at least one input device, and at least one outputdevice. A computer program is a set of instructions that can be used,directly or indirectly, in a computer to perform a certain activity orbring about a certain result. A computer program may be written in anyform of programming language, for example Objective-C, Java, Swift, andC++, and it may be deployed in any form, including as a stand-aloneprogram or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitablefor use in a computing environment.

Suitable processors for the execution of a program of instructions mayinclude, by way of example, both general and special purposemicroprocessors, and the sole processor or one of multiple processors orcores, of any kind of computer. Generally, a processor may receiveinstructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memoryor both. The essential elements of a computer may include a processorfor executing instructions and one or more memories for storinginstructions and data. Generally, a computer may also include, or beoperatively coupled to communicate with, one or more mass storagedevices for storing data files; such devices include magnetic disks,such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks;and optical disks. Storage devices suitable for tangibly embodyingcomputer program instructions and data may include all forms ofnon-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductor memorydevices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic diskssuch as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks;and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory may besupplemented by, or incorporated in, ASICs (application-specificintegrated circuits).

One or more features or steps of the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented using an API. An API may define one or more parameters thatare passed between a calling application and other software code (e.g.,an operating system, library routine, function) that provides a service,that provides data, or that performs an operation or a computation. TheAPI may be implemented as one or more calls in program code that send orreceive one or more parameters through a parameter list or otherstructure based on a call convention defined in an API specificationdocument. A parameter may be a constant, a key, a data structure, anobject, an object class, a variable, a data type, a pointer, an array, alist, or another call. API calls and parameters may be implemented inany programming language. The programming language may define thevocabulary and calling convention that a programmer will employ toaccess functions supporting the API. In some implementations, an APIcall may report to an application the capabilities of a device runningthe application, such as input capability, output capability, processingcapability, power capability, communications capability, etc.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram that shows various features of the InvoiceHub server 110 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In FIG. 3A, Invoice Hub server 110 may be configured toenable a supplier to interact with the Invoice Hub server to performvarious actions relating to digital invoice processing. For example, asupplier may access client services through a customer API of theInvoice Hub server, and may access client services such as viewinginvoice statements 304, viewing the transaction history of an invoice306, managing alternate user access 308, for example to enable anotherindividual employed by the supplier to access the Invoice Hub server,displaying invoice repayment information 310, viewingpass-through-payment details 312, viewing pending requests 314, andmanaging the supplier profile 316. Invoice Hub server may also performactions relating to assisting a user through FAQs and other helpfeatures 302. In some embodiments, a supplier may be able to accessmore, or fewer, client services shown in FIG. 3A.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram that shows various features of the InvoiceHub server 110 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In FIG. 3B, Invoice Hub server 110 may be configured toenable an operator to interact with the Invoice Hub server to performvarious actions relating to digital invoice processing. For example, anoperator may access system services through a back office API of theInvoice Hub server 110, and may access system services such as viewingand/or updating supplier information 320, viewing and/or updating buyerinformation 322, generating reports and exporting data 324, loggingconversations and activities 326, maintaining support documentation 328,and viewing daily, monthly, and/or annual transactions 330. In someembodiments, an operator may be able to access more, or fewer, systemservices shown in FIG. 3B.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an Invoice Hub server 412 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Invoice Hubserver 412 may correspond to Invoice Hub server 110. Invoice Hub server412 may include various APIs, including customer APIs 402 and backoffice APIs 406. Customer APIs 402 may be accessed by customer web userinterface (UI) 400, and back office APIs may be accessed by back officeweb UI 408. Invoice Hub server 412 may also communicate with enterprisesystems 410. Enterprise systems 410 may include one or more subparts,for example one or more of the subparts shown in FIG. 1, and each ofcustomer APIs 402 and back office APIs 406 of Invoice Hub server 412 maycommunicate with enterprise system, including through APIs on enterprisesystems 410 or through other modes of communication. Invoice Hub server412 may include an invoice database 404, and both customer APIs 402 andback office APIs 406 may access invoice database 404.

Customer APIs 402 may include various APIs, including an applicationmanagement API, a customer authentication API, a buyer management API, afunding request management API, an invoice management API, and atransaction management API. In some embodiments, the APIs shown incustomer APIs 402 may be consolidated into a single API, or may bebroken out into further APIs. The customer APIs 402 may be used foraccessing various features of the Invoice Hub sever, including customerauthentication, buyer management (e.g., data relating to a relationshipbetween a customer and a buyer, including past, current, and futureinvoices), requesting and accessing information relating to funding of,e.g., invoices, managing one or more invoices for one or more buyers,and for managing transactions, such as changing invoice-relatedinformation.

Back office APIs 408 may include various APIs, including an agentauthentication API, a funding request management API, a prospect dataimport API, an application management API, an invoice management API, adata import/export API, a buyer management API, a reporting API, asupplier management API, and a transaction management API. In someembodiments, the APIs shown in back office APIs 406 may be consolidatedinto a single API, or may be broken out into further APIs. The backoffice APIs 408 may be used for individuals to provide similar functionsas customer APIs 402, and may also be used for supplier management(e.g., data relating to a relationship between the operator of InvoiceHub server and one or more suppliers).

Invoice database 404 may store information relating to invoiceprocessing. For example, invoice database 404 may store parametersdescribing an invoice, and may include a data structure for enabling theartificial intelligence logic of the Invoice Hub server to efficientlyand dynamically determine information relating to one or more invoicesassociated with a supplier. In some embodiments, the data structure maystore information relating to invoices paid over time by a buyer of asupplier, information for determining high priority invoices based onthe payment schedule of invoice(s) associated with a supplier, and maystore information enabling the Invoice Hub server 412 to perform themethods and processes described herein.

Invoice Hub server 412 may include intelligent invoice logic 414, andthe intelligent invoice logic 414 may contain artificial intelligence(AI) or machine learning (ML) intelligence. Intelligent invoice logic414 may be in communication with invoice database 404 to accessinformation pertaining to invoices. The intelligent invoice logic 414may analyze data from invoice database 404 for actionable purposes, forexample to identify invoices that may have favorable paymentcharacteristics. Intelligence invoice logic 414 may analyze data frominvoice database 404 and generate new data that may be used for variouspurposes. For example, intelligent invoice logic 414 may create new datafor comparing to future invoices submitted from a third party (e.g., aneInvoicing platform), and intelligently prioritize invoices based ondata generated by intelligent invoice logic 414. In some embodiments,intelligent invoice logic may be in communication with the customer APIs402 and the back office APIs 406, and the invoice server APIs 402/406may be used to interact with invoice database 404.

Intelligent invoice logic 414 of Invoice Hub server 412 may generatedata relating to invoice processing, and in some embodiments, thegenerated data may be stored in invoice database 404. For example,intelligent invoice logic 414 may generate an invoice score that may begiven for an invoice associated with a supplier and a buyer. The invoicescore may be generated by AI/ML logic included in intelligent invoicelogic 414, and may include factors such as a payment schedule of theinvoice, an expected return of the invoice, historical payment historyof a buyer (a customer of the supplier), and a credit score of asupplier. The supplier credit score may be based on several factors,including a credit line provided to the supplier, the amount of creditthat the supplier is using of the credit line, remaining creditavailable to the supplier, and the total value of open invoices assignedto the supplier. For example, a supplier with a high credit score (e.g.,with a high credit limit and low credit usage) may result in a higherinvoice score, and may depend on other factors, including factorsrelating to a buyer. Additional factors may be considered by theintelligent invoice logic 414 for generating the invoice score. Theintelligent invoice logic 414 may also include an invoice scorethreshold that can be compared to an invoice score, the invoice scoreassociated with an invoice that is associated with a supplier and abuyer. The invoice score threshold can be a predetermined threshold, orin some embodiments, the threshold is determined by intelligent invoicelogic 414. In some embodiments, the remaining credit available issimilar to an advance limit, such that if a supplier requests payment ofan invoice that exceeds the credit limit (e.g., a maximum invoicevalue), advance payment of the invoice may be approved only to theadvance limit.

In some embodiments, intelligent invoice logic 414 of Invoice Hub server412 may evaluate various historical factors relating to invoicesassociated with a customer or a buyer. For example, if a new customerregisters with Invoice Hub server 412, intelligent invoice logic 414 mayanalyze a payment history of a buyer associated with an invoice of thenew customer to identify new customer invoices that may be selected forexpedited processing. Analyzing a payment history of a buyer may includeintelligent logic for searching sources containing business informationon buyers, for example stock price information, financial reports,future value estimations, and other information in order to developbuyer profiles. As some buyers may have stronger credit history thanother buyers, intelligent invoice logic 414 may create and maintainbuyer profile scores that may be included in analysis of invoices toconsider for advance payment. In some embodiments, analyzing a paymenthistory may include analyzing tens, hundreds, thousands, or even greateramounts of invoice histories, including information relating to suchinvoices, to identify trends, including trends with one or moresuppliers (or types of suppliers for example). Over time, as morepayment information is received and processed by Invoice Hub server 412,the ability of Invoice Hub server 412 to identify favorable invoices foradvance payment may greatly increase. The analysis of paymentinformation may also be used to identify trends (e.g., late paymentsbeing made in certain parts of the year) that can be used in determiningwhether an invoice qualifies for an advance payment, the amount thatshould be advanced, and other factors as described in the presentdisclosure.

A user interface option may allow the new customer to select thatinvoice, even after only a short time period passing between when thenew customer registered with the Invoice Hub server and the request toprocess an invoice. In some embodiments, the intelligent invoice logic414 may continue to analyze payment trends over time, and mayautomatically adjust the availability of invoices that a new customermay be able to select, if for example the buyer's repayment trendsfavorably or unfavorably over time.

The intelligent invoice logic 414 may also include logic for comparing abuyer's treatment of various suppliers, including one or more suppliersregistered with the Invoice Hub server. For example, if a buyer pays acertain supplier more consistently than other suppliers within thebuyer's network, the AI/ML of the intelligent invoice logic may takesuch factors into consideration as to whether invoices associated with asupplier should be considered for processing, or expedited processingfor example.

In some embodiments, the intelligent invoice logic includes AI/ML forautomatically adjusting pricing and product characteristics associatedwith an invoice. The automatic pricing adjustment may be based on, forexample, various factors relating to a buyer, a supplier, and atransaction history between the buyer and the supplier. The logic may befurther extended to consider other suppliers within a buyer's networkfor invoice processing, or other buyers within a supplier's network, forexample. In some embodiments, an underlying interest rate, for examplean interest rate similar to an annual percentage rate (APR), may beautomatically adjusted for certain invoices based on one or morefactors, including factors relating to payment history. The AI/ML ofintelligent invoice logic 414 may be used to identify less riskytransactions in providing a favorable interest rate for example. In someembodiments, as discussed further below and as shown in FIG. 5, theadvanced amount may be automatically adjusted by intelligent invoicelogic. For example, if a transaction between a buyer and a seller isidentified as less risky, the advanced amount identified by theintelligent invoice logic may be greater. In other embodiments, theinvoice due date could be adjusted based on one or more factorsassociated with an invoice, or based on other factors relating to abuyer or a supplier. For example, a buyer with a history of consistentlypaid invoices, but with a history of missing initial invoice due dates,may be granted automatic extended grace periods.

In some embodiments, intelligent invoice logic performs a dynamicassessment of a customer (e.g., a supplier). The dynamic assessment maybe used to automatically adjust the advance limit associated with acustomer, and may be automatically increased or decreased based onvarious factors. Some factors may include for example the number ofunpaid invoices, the number of invoices unpaid after a due date, thetotal advanced amount, as well as other factors relating to an invoiceas described in this disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a user interface for enabling a customer, for example asupplier or a customer of the supplier (e.g., a buyer), to interact withan exemplary Invoice Hub server 110/412 and to request data from, or tosubmit requests to, the Invoice Hub server, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure. FIG. 5 shows user interface window 500, anaddress bar 502, for entering a URL for example, and informationdisplayed within window 500 relating to a supplier and one or moreinvoices. In some embodiments, the interface shown in FIG. 5 may bemodified for display on a mobile phone or other user interfaceenvironment, for example a tablet device. For example, certain datafields, described in further detail below, may or may not be displayedin a modified UI, depending on data fields identified by a customer fordisplay. The modified UI could include data fields for tracking thestatus of an invoice, or the modified UI could include data fields andaction buttons for enabling a user to perform an action relating to aninvoice.

The window 500 shown in FIG. 5 includes various elements, including auser profile selector 504, an invoice status selector 506, invoiceinformation descriptor 508, an invoice entry descriptor 510, a suppliercredit and invoice descriptor 512, and an action selector 514.

The user profile selector 504 may allow a user to select a user profilerelating to the supplier. For example, if the supplier has suppliedmultiple individuals with credentials to access the Invoice Hub server,an individual affiliated with the supplier may be able to access theindividual's profile by selecting the user profile selector 504.Selecting the user profile selector 504 may allow display of all userprofiles associated with the supplier, and may allow the individualaffiliated with the supplier to select the individual's user profile. Inresponse, the Invoice Hub server may present a user interface thatincludes invoices assigned to that individual, including one or moreinvoice entry descriptor 510 based on the number of invoices assigned tothe individual. The invoice status selector 506 enables a user tonavigate between invoices that are either in an OPEN, FUNDED, LATE, andCLOSED state. In some embodiments, there may be additional invoicestatuses, such that more options appear in the invoice status selector506, and in some embodiments, there may be fewer invoice statuses, suchthat fewer options appear in the invoice status selector 506.

Invoice information descriptor 508 may include information describing aninvoice, and may include a customer name, an invoice identifier (e.g.,an invoice number), an invoice amount, an invoice due date, a daysadvanced, an advanced amount, and an action identifier. Invoiceinformation descriptor 508 may be displayed as the header of a userinterface displayed using multiple columns, where each columncorresponds to the customer name, the invoice identifier, the invoiceamount, the invoice due date, the days advanced, the advanced amount,and the action identifier.

Invoice entry descriptor 510 may display invoice-specific information,and include one or more of a specific customer name, invoice identifier,invoice amount, invoice due date, days advanced, and advanced amount.For example, the first row in FIG. 5 shows an entry of ‘ABC20180312’ foran invoice identifier. This may represent a unique identifier of aninvoice, invoice ‘ABC20180312.’ The entry ‘Company A’ may represent thatCompany A is the customer (i.e., the customer of a supplier), the entry‘$5,500’ may represent the total amount of the invoice, the entry‘October 22’ may represent the due date of that invoice, the entry ‘20’may represent the number of days advanced of the invoice, the entry‘$5,200’ may represent the actual amount of the invoice that wasadvanced, and the entry ‘Request Funds’ may enable a user to send arequest to a customer (i.e., a supplier's customer) requesting paymentof an invoice amount. For example, a request for payment of an invoicemay be requested by the user. In some embodiments, the Invoice Hubserver automatically sends a request for payment of an invoice, forexample the invoice amount shown in FIG. 5, to the customer (e.g.,providing notice to a customer that an invoice is eligible for advancepayment), and in some embodiments, sends a prioritized list of invoicesthat are eligible for advance payment. In the user interface of FIG. 5,for example, more favorable invoices may be displayed in the first row(or the initial rows), and in some embodiments user interface elementsmay be used to highlight an invoice that may be considered more or lessfavorable for advance payment. In some embodiments, the Invoice Hubserver sends the request based on the days advanced value and/or theinvoice due date relating to an invoice identifier.

The supplier credit and invoice descriptor 512 may provide informationrelating to the credit of a supplier, and may provide informationrelating to invoices relating to the supplier. The supplier credit andinvoice descriptor 512 may include a credit line descriptor, a creditused descriptor, a credit available descriptor, and an open invoicesdescriptor. In some embodiments, the credit line descriptor representsthe total amount of credit provided to the supplier by the Invoice Hubserver, the credit used descriptor represents the portion of creditused, the used credit relating to the total amount of credit provided tothe supplier, the credit available descriptor represents the remainingamount of credit available, the remaining credit relating to the totalamount of credit provided to the supplier and the used credit, and anopen invoices descriptor. In some embodiments, the open invoicesdescriptor represents a total value of invoices that have been processedby the Invoice Hub server. In some embodiments, the credit availabledescriptor is similar to an advance limit. For example, if a supplierrequests payment of an invoice that exceeds the amount shown in thecredit available descriptor (e.g., a maximum invoice value), advancepayment of the invoice may be approved only to the advance limit.

The window 500 of FIG. 5 may include the various user interface elementsshown, including the address bar 502, the user profile selector 504, theinvoice status selector 506, the invoice information descriptor 508, theinvoice entry descriptor 510, the supplier credit and invoice descriptor512, and the action selector 514. In some embodiments, the window 500may include additional user interface elements, for example a searchfield to search for an invoice based on one or more of the userinterface elements shown in FIG. 5, and a selected funding descriptorthat provides a monetary value based on the number of action selector514 elements that have been selected by the user. In some embodiments,the window 500 may include fewer user interface elements than that shownin FIG. 5.

The user interface shown in FIG. 5 may also be used to display otherinformation, including a Buyer Payment Likelihood score and a PaymentOn-Time Likelihood score. In some embodiments, the Invoice Hub servermay determine a score identifying the likelihood (e.g., a percent orvalue) that a buyer may provide payment based on one or more factors.Such a score may be displayed in window 500. In some embodiments, theInvoice Hub server may determine a score identifying the likelihood(e.g., a percent or value) that a buyer may repay an invoice payment ontime. Such a score may be displayed in window 500. Other informationrelating to an invoice may be displayed in window 500, depending on forexample whether the user interface is displayed on a browser of a laptopor desktop computer, or if the user interface is displayed on a mobiledevice. The AI/ML of Invoice Hub server 110/412 may include logic fordetermining a Buyer Payment Likelihood score and a Payment On-TimeLikelihood score. The Invoice Hub server 110/412 may process invoicerelated information received from one or more third parties. The AI/MLlogic for determining such scores may include weighting particularperiods of time, for example assigning greater weight to consistent andfull payments for more recent time periods (e.g., a month, half-year, oryear), that may be used in determining such scores. Other metrics may beused in determining the score, for example a buyer profile score asdescribed in the present disclosure. Over time, interfaces withadditional third parties may be added in order for Invoice Hub server toaccess additional data sources containing invoice and related data,including historical invoice information (i.e., invoices not originallyprocessed by Invoice Hub server). With more data, the Buyer PaymentLikelihood score and a Payment On-Time Likelihood score (as well asother potential scores) may become more accurate as the Invoice Hubserver accesses and/or stores more invoice related data.

The invoice entry descriptor 510 may be configured to display indifferent manners. For example, in some embodiments, invoices with amore favorable interest rate (e.g., which may be determined based on theadvanced analytics for determining the Buyer Payment Likelihood score orthe Payment On-Time Likelihood score) may be displayed first (i.e., inthe first row or in the first several entries). The invoice entrydescriptor 510 may be scrollable, such that a supplier with manyinvoices may be able to view all invoices by scrolling down in the userinterface.

In some embodiments, user interfaces to a customer may include editablefields. A customer may view invoice information in a read-only userinterface, and select a button or icon for accessing one or moreinvoices in an editable mode. In such a mode, the customer may be ableto request changes to information describing the invoice (i.e., flag oneor more invoice characteristics), for example a days advanced, invoicedue date, advanced amount, etc. In this manner, it may be possible for acustomer to negotiate an advance payment of an invoice, or to changeinformation relating to an invoice that present more favorable terms toeither the customer or the entity controlling the Invoice Hub server.

While an example of a user interface is shown in FIG. 5, other possibleuser interfaces may be provided to a user (e.g., a supplier, a customer,or an employee of an entity having ownership of the Invoice Hub server).For example, a calendar option may be presented to a user, such that theuser may be presented in a calendar view of when payments are expected.The calendar user interface may show a month-by-month, or week-by-weekanalysis of expected or past payments.

Another example user interface may include presenting a windowdisplaying expected withdrawals or payments from/into an account overtime, such that an estimated value of an account may be identified andpresented to a user.

Another example user interface may include linking to a banking accountof a customer (e.g., a supplier), and enabling the customer to access auser interface where the customer can select an invoice to process, dragthe invoice to a bank account symbol (the bank account associated withthe customer), and release the invoice while interacting with the bankaccount symbol. In such embodiments, the Invoice Hub server mayimmediately submit a request to transfer funds associated with theinvoice to the bank account of the supplier. Additional logic may beincluded at Invoice Hub server to delay, alert, or notify the customerof a failure to deposit funds associated with an invoice to the bankaccount.

Another example user interface may include a Payment Assurance optiondisplayed in window 500, or displayed in user interfaces of otherembodiments. The Payment Assurance feature may be used for example whena customer selects a Payment Assurance icon or soft button. If thecustomer selects that action, then if the buyer pays the invoice pastthe due date, the Invoice Hub server may initiate a payment to thesupplier and notify the buyer that payment of the invoice is to bedirected to Invoice Hub server.

FIG. 6 shows an Invoice Hub server registration process according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The registration process may beperformed by a combination of the Invoice Hub server (e.g., 110/412) andan external site (e.g., a server controlled by a third party). In someembodiments, the registration process is performed by a user device incombination with the Invoice Hub server.

At step 610, the Invoice Hub server receives a request to create anaccount for a supplier. This step may be performed before any datarelating to invoices issued by a supplier are received from a thirdparty, for example an external SFTP site or other site for transferringdata between networks. In some embodiments, an external site sends therequest to create an account for a supplier, and in some embodiments, auser device sends the request.

At step 620, the Invoice Hub server creates an account for supplier. Insome embodiments, the Invoice Hub server may create the supplier accountbefore any invoice related data is received from a third party (e.g., aserver controlled by a third party), and in some embodiments, theInvoice Hub server may create the supplier account contemporaneously, orin close proximity, to receiving data relating to an invoice from athird party. In some embodiments, the customer may include an interface,such that the Invoice Hub server may be able to import or access invoicerecords from a device within customer's control and ownership, and inother embodiments the customer stores invoice information with a thirdparty, and the third party provides the interface such that Invoice Hubserver can import or access invoice data. Depending on the amount ofhistorical invoice data stored within a source, it may be advantageousto prefer interfacing with either the customer invoice system or a thirdparty invoice system for importing and/or accessing invoice datarelating to the customer.

At step 630, a notice relating to creation of the supplier account maybe transmitted to an external site, for example a server controlled by athird party. In some embodiments, the notice may be sent at a laterpoint in time, for example when a user profile is created, and in otherembodiments, the Invoice Hub server may not send a notice.

At step 640, the Invoice Hub server updates the supplier account toinclude eligible buyer information. For purposes of the presentdisclosure a “buyer” may refer to a customer of a supplier. Similarly, a“customer” may refer to a customer of the supplier, or alternatively thesupplier is the customer of the entity managing the Invoice Hub server.In some embodiments, eligible buyer information may include a buyername, a buyer identifier, and other information that can be used by theInvoice Hub server to identify relationships between a buyer (i.e., acustomer of a supplier) and a supplier. The buyer identifier may be aunique identifier when there are multiple buyers with the same buyername. In some embodiments, intelligent invoice logic 114 may beconfigured to analyze invoice data to identifyrelationships/correlations between buyers and/or differences to identifyand distinguish between distinct buyer entities.

Steps 650, 660, and 670 may be performed by a combination of the InvoiceHub server and an external site (e.g., a server controlled by a thirdparty) for purposes of exchanging information relating to the process ofestablishing supplier and buyer data in the Invoice Hub server. In someembodiments, this information is needed for the Invoice Hub to performthe features and processes described herein. In some embodiments,historical invoice information may be imported and/or accessed by theInvoice Hub server, including for example payment information, interestrate, date of payment, and other information relating to an invoice. Forbuyers that have extensive invoice histories or submit significantnumbers of invoices, the customer and/or third party data sources maywell exceed millions of invoice records.

FIG. 7 shows an Invoice Hub server invoice identification and processingmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The InvoiceHub server (e.g., 110/412) may be used to perform the steps of theprocess shown. In some embodiments, one or more APIs relating to theInvoice Hub server may be used to perform the steps of the processshown.

At step 710, the Invoice Hub server generates business logic rulesrelating to a supplier. The business logic criteria may describe one ormore criteria or conditions and may be used to define relationshipsbetween multiple invoices received by the Invoice Hub server from, forexample, an external site. In some embodiments, a user profileassociated with a supplier may be used to send the business logiccriteria to the Invoice Hub server, where the Invoice Hub server mayprocess and store the business logic criteria. In other embodiments, theInvoice Hub server may include artificial intelligence to definebusiness logic criteria based on invoices submitted by a supplier. Theartificial intelligence may identify business logic criteria based onprior behavior of the supplier, or may identify business logic criteriabased on suppliers having a similar industry profile. For example,certain industries may have a stronger record of, e.g., full payment orpayment on time, whereas other industries, for example startup companiesin the technology sector, including emerging technologies, may not havean established invoice history to identify relevant business logiccriteria. In some embodiments, the advance payment options provided to asupplier or customer may vary, depending on the industry profile.

In some embodiments, the supplier may define business logic criteria,and artificial intelligence at the Invoice Hub may modify the businesslogic criteria based on one or more intelligent criteria, where suchintelligent criteria may include payment history of a buyer (i.e., acustomer of the supplier), the total number of invoices submitted by asupplier, and market profile descriptors of a buyer related to thesupplier. On some embodiments, the artificial intelligence in theInvoice Hub server may consider other intelligent criteria, in additionto the intelligent criteria identified above.

At step 720, the Invoice Hub server compares business logic criteria toinvoices that have been submitted to the Invoice Hub server by asupplier. In some embodiments, the Invoice Hub server, includingartificial intelligence located at the Invoice Hub server, may modifythe business logic criteria based on one or more intelligent criteriabefore comparing the modified business logic criteria to the availableinvoices. One benefit of updating the business logic criteria beforecomparing the business logic criteria to available invoices is thatadditional invoices may become available for processing by the InvoiceHub server.

At step 730, a supplier is notified of the availability of advanceeligible invoices, for example invoices that may be immediatelyprocessed, such that the supplier may receive an advance payment(compared to when the supplier would expect to receive payment from thebuyer). In some embodiments, this is done in response to a request forinformation from a user device, the user device associated with a userprofile further associated with the supplier. In other embodiments,Invoice Hub server may notify the supplier that previously ineligibleinvoices are available for advance payment and processing.

At step 740, a supplier requests information on eligible invoices fromthe Invoice hub server, and the Invoice Hub server provides a list ofeligible invoices that may be displayed to the user. In someembodiments, the Invoice Hub server may perform this request in responseto a request for eligible invoice information from a supplier. In otherembodiments, the Invoice Hub server may generate a report and sendinformation relating to eligible invoices to the supplier.

At step 750, the Invoice Hub server processes the supplier request toprocess eligible invoices. In some embodiments, a supplier may select asingle eligible invoice to process, and in other embodiments, thesupplier may select multiple (or all) eligible invoices to process. Insome embodiments, the Invoice Hub server may send an advance paymentrequest to an enterprise financial systems.

FIG. 8 shows a supplier profile update process according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The Invoice Hub server may be usedto perform the steps of the process shown. In some embodiments, anoperator may perform certain steps of the process shown.

At step 810, a supplier accesses a self-service platform. Theself-service platform may be presented through a customer API accessiblethrough the Invoice Hub server. Steps 820 and 830 are presented asoptional steps. At step 820, a supplier requests to add a buyer to theInvoice Hub server. At step 830, a supplier requests to increase theamount of credit (e.g., a line increase). In some embodiments, asupplier may send a request relating to step 820 and a request relatingto step 830 in any particular order. In some embodiments, the InvoiceHub server contains artificial intelligence for automaticallydetermining an amount of a credit increase. The amount of the creditincrease may be related to business logic criteria, and the Invoice Hubserver may use intelligent criteria described herein to automaticallydetermine an amount of a credit increase. For example, the Invoice Hubserver may analyze the payment history of one or more buyers associatedwith a supplier, and based on that analysis, automatically increase thesupplier's credit.

In some embodiments, step 840 may be done by an operator. The operatormay determine whether a request (i.e., a request to add a buyer at step820 or a request to increase an amount of credit at step 830) should beprocessed. If the operator determines that the request should not beprocessed, then the process ends. In some embodiments, the Invoice Hubserver may send a notice to the supplier that a request has been denied.In some embodiments, the operator may determine that the request shouldbe processed, and may send the request to underwriting. In someembodiments, underwriting is performed by a third party, in someembodiments underwriting is performed by a group relating to the entitymanaging the Invoice Hub server, and in other embodiments, the InvoiceHub server may be configured to execute logic for determining whetherthe supplier's request should be approved.

At step 860, if the request is denied, then the process ends. If therequest is approved, then in some embodiments, an operator updates thesupplier credit increase or adds a buyer associated with the supplier inInvoice Hub server. In some embodiments, the Invoice Hub server may makethe determination as to whether a buyer should be added or whether thesupplier should be granted a credit increase, and may update thesupplier's information accordingly. In some embodiments, if the operatorsends a request to update Invoice Hub server, the operator may send anotification to the supplier regarding the outcome of the supplier'srequest. In other embodiments, the Invoice Hub server may automaticallysend a notification to the supplier regarding the supplier's request.

FIG. 9 shows an Invoice Hub server invoice identification and processingmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The InvoiceHub server (e.g., 110/412) may be used to perform the steps of theprocess shown.

At step 910, a supplier accesses a self-service platform. Theself-service platform may be presented through a customer API (e.g.,420) accessible through the Invoice Hub server.

At step 920, the Invoice Hub server may provide a list of eligibleinvoices to the supplier. The list of eligible invoices may be displayedthrough a customer API, either alone or through a customer web UI. Insome embodiments, the Invoice Hub server may apply business logiccriteria, as described herein, to invoices associated with the supplierand identify eligible invoices that may be presented to the supplier.

At step 930, the supplier identifies an invoice to borrow against. Insome embodiments, the supplier may select more than one invoice toborrow against, and in some embodiments the supplier may select alleligible invoices to borrow against. In some embodiments, the InvoiceHub server may apply business logic criteria to determine if alleligible invoices may be selected, and if the Invoice Hub serverdetermines that all eligible invoices may be selected, the Invoice Hubserver may enable a display that allows the supplier to select alleligible invoices for payment. In determining which invoices to process,the supplier may be able to compare eligible invoices, including forexample an advanced amount, an invoice due date, and a credit availablelimit. Some invoices may have terms more favorable to a supplier, forexample invoices associated with a more credit worthy buyer. Userinterfaces generated at least in part by Invoice Hub server, for examplethe user interface shown in FIG. 5, enables more intelligent decisionmaking to be done by the supplier based on the analysis performed byInvoice Hub server.

In some embodiments, the Invoice Hub server can apply business logiccriteria in response to a supplier selection of an eligible invoice. TheInvoice Hub server, in response to applying the business logic criteria,may then modify the user interface displayed to the user, so that thesupplier may not be able to select invoices that were previouslyeligible, and became ineligible as a result of the supplier selectingcertain invoices for payment.

At step 940, the Invoice Hub server compares the request to borrowagainst one or more eligible invoices to business logic criteria. TheInvoice Hub server may notify the supplier of eligible invoices based onapplying the business logic criteria to the request for payment of oneor more eligible invoices. In some embodiments, supplier confirmationmay be required before any payment of an eligible invoice may begin.This is shown for example at step 950.

At step 960, the Invoice Hub server begins processing the requestedinvoice(s). As described herein, in some embodiments, a request to senda payment to the supplier may be handled by an operator, and in otherembodiments, the Invoice Hub server submits the request to a paymentsystem, for example an enterprise financial system.

At step 970, the Invoice Hub server tracks the status of an advancepayment to a supplier, and updates the status. In some embodiments, theadvance payment may be denied, for example if the invoice is determinedto be based on an erroneous or fraudulent invoice. In other embodiments,after payment has been confirmed, the Invoice Hub server may update thestatus of the invoice so that a supplier can tell whether an invoice hasbeen paid.

In addition to the benefits and advantages described previously, theInvoice Hub server provides other benefits. For example, the Invoice Hubserver may utilize existing buyer and supplier relationships in order toreduce the risk of fraudulent payments. Buyers may include safeguards(or controls) to prevent payment of funds to a fraudulent party, and theInvoice Hub server may utilize such controls to prevent fraudulentindividuals from being accepted as genuine.

The Invoice Hub server may include logic for initiating a purchase ofthe account of a supplier (e.g., an asset purchase), thereby shiftingthe credit risk from SMBs to a buyer. Generally, buyers include lesscredit risk than a supplier, or SMBs in general, and the Invoice Hubserver, using logic described in the present disclosure, may analyzelarge amounts of data from multiple sources in order to shift creditrisk from, e.g., an SMB to a more credit-worthy buyer.

The term “advance payment” generally refers to an advancement on theexpected payment for an invoice. For example, if a supplier invoices abuyer for a transaction, an advance payment may be made on the invoicedamount or a portion of the invoiced amount. In some embodiments, asupplier (or customer) may waive a portion of an invoice submitted to abuyer in order to obtain a payment for a portion of the invoice, and thefull invoiced amount may be recoupled or collected through the InvoiceHub server.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope. In fact, after reading theabove description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevantart(s) how to implement alternative embodiments. For example, othersteps may be provided, or steps may be eliminated, from the describedflows, and other components may be added to, or removed from, thedescribed systems. Accordingly, other implementations are within thescope of the following claims.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlightthe functionality and advantages are presented for example purposesonly. The disclosed methodology and system are each sufficientlyflexible and configurable such that they may be utilized in ways otherthan that shown.

Although the term “at least one” may often be used in the specification,claims and drawings, the terms “a”, “an”, “the”, “said”, etc. alsosignify “at least one” or “the at least one” in the specification,claims and drawings.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing an invoiceinterface to a plurality of third party invoice systems, wherein each ofthe plurality of third party invoice systems interact with an invoicehub server through the invoice interface; receiving, at the invoice hubserver through the invoice interface, a plurality of invoices directlyfrom the plurality of third party invoice systems, wherein each of theplurality of invoices is associated with a transaction between asupplier and a buyer, and wherein each of the plurality of invoicescomprises at least a buyer identifier, a supplier identifier associatedwith the supplier, an invoice amount, and an invoice due date;generating, for each invoice of the plurality of invoices by the invoicehub server, an invoice identifier and an invoice status, the invoicestatus associated with an invoice state indicating a processing statusof the invoice; identifying one or more supplier invoices from theplurality of invoices, the supplier invoices comprising the samesupplier identifier; identifying a plurality of stored invoicescomprising at least the same supplier identifier, wherein each of theplurality of stored invoices further comprises a buyer identifier;analyzing, by a machine-learning (ML) module in the invoice hub server,the one or more supplier invoices and the plurality of stored invoicesfor determining invoices to expedite, the analyzing further comprising:accessing one or more invoice settings associated with the supplieridentifier; identifying a supplier preference based on the one or moreinvoice settings, the supplier preference indicating an option toprocess an invoice on an expedited basis; identifying one or more openinvoices from the plurality of stored invoices, the open invoicesidentified by determining the invoice status for each invoice of theplurality of stored invoices, each of the one or more open invoicescomprising an open invoice status; identifying one or more closedinvoices from the plurality of stored invoices, the closed invoicesidentified by determining the invoice status for each invoice of theplurality of stored invoices, each of the one or more closed invoicescomprising a closed invoice status; for each of the one or more closedinvoices, receiving closed invoice transaction data comprising at leasta payment history and a total return of each respective closed invoice;comparing the supplier preference to each of the one or more supplierinvoices and the one or more open invoices to identify one or moreeligible invoices for expedited processing; based on identifying the oneor more eligible invoices for expedited processing, receiving one ormore invoice amounts for each of the one or more eligible invoices, theone or more invoice amounts indicating a cost of each eligible invoice,the cost associated with a transaction involving a supplier associatedwith the supplier identifier; receiving a total invoice amount allowedindicating a maximum invoice amount for the supplier; generating aninvoice score for each of the one or more eligible invoices, eachinvoice score based on at least a supplier credit score, a buyer creditscore, a payment schedule of a respective eligible invoice, and anexpected return of the respective eligible invoice; comparing each ofthe generated invoice scores to an invoice score threshold to identifyone or more threshold invoices, wherein the one or more thresholdinvoices have an invoice score that exceeds the invoice score threshold;analyzing the total invoice amount, the one or more threshold invoices,the closed invoice transaction data, and the one or more invoiceamounts; based on analyzing the total invoice amount, the one or morethreshold invoices, and the one or more invoice amounts, identifying oneor more expedited invoices from the one or more threshold invoices forexpedited processing; causing, by the ML module, a notice to be sent tothe supplier, wherein the notice comprises a list of the one or moreexpedited invoices for expedited processing; based on identifying theone or more expedited invoices, automatically transmitting an advancepayment to the supplier associated with the one or more supplieridentifiers associated with the one or more expedited invoicesidentified for expedited processing; updating a total expedited invoiceamount to include the invoice amount associated with each of the one ormore expedited invoices identified for expedited processing; andautomatically transmitting an advance payment notice to a buyerassociated with a buyer identifier associated with each of the expeditedinvoices, the notice relating to advance payment of the one or moreexpedited invoices identified for expedited processing.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the invoice hub server, arequest for information from the supplier, the request for informationrelating to the plurality of invoices; preparing, by the invoice hubserver, a supplier invoice summary, the supplier invoice summarycomprising at least the buyer identifier, the invoice identifier, theinvoice amount, the invoice status, and the invoice due date for each ofthe plurality of invoices; and transmitting, by the invoice hub server,the supplier invoice summary to the supplier.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: identifying, by the invoice hub server, a list ofone or more responsive invoices, the responsive invoice records relatingto the one or more eligible invoices; and generating, by the invoice hubserver, an invoice report based on the list of one or more responsiveinvoices, the invoice report comprising the one or more eligibleinvoices.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: creating, by theinvoice hub server, one or more invoice business rules, the one or moreinvoice business rules comprising one or more conditions relating to theone or more expedited invoices; comparing, by the invoice hub server,the one or more expedited invoices to the one or more invoice businessrules; in response to comparing the one or more expedited invoices tothe one or more invoice business rules, generating one or moreadditional invoice business rules; and transmitting, by the invoice hubserver, an invoice payment request, the invoice payment request relatingto payment of the one or more expedited invoice records, wherein the oneor more conditions comprise at least the buyer identifier.
 5. The methodof claim 2, further comprising: in response to transmitting the supplierinvoice summary to the supplier, receiving, by the invoice hub server, asupplier request, the supplier request comprising one or more flags, theone or more flags relating to the plurality of invoices; transmitting,by the invoice hub server, an update request, the update requestcomprising a request to update one or more of the plurality of invoicesbased on the one or more flags; and transmitting, by the invoice hubserver, a message to the supplier, the message describing a status oftransmitting the update request.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, by the invoice hub server, additional data fromat least one of the plurality of third party invoice systems, theadditional data relating to the plurality of invoices; transmitting, bythe invoice hub server, an update request for the plurality of invoices,the update request comprising at least a request to update the status ofat least one of the plurality of invoices; and transmitting, by theinvoice hub server, a status update to the at least one of the pluralityof third party invoice systems.
 7. A system comprising: an invoice hubserver comprising a processor and a non-transitory memory, the memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to perform processing comprising: providing an invoiceinterface to a plurality of third party invoice systems; receiving aplurality of invoices from the plurality of third party invoice systemsthrough the invoice interface, each invoice of the plurality of invoicesassociated with a transaction between a supplier and a buyer andcomprising, a buyer identifier, a supplier identifier, an invoiceamount, and an invoice due date; adding, to each invoice of theplurality of invoices, an invoice identifier and an invoice status, theinvoice status associated with an invoice state indicating a processingstatus of the invoice; identifying one or more supplier invoices fromthe plurality of invoices, the supplier invoices comprising the samesupplier identifier; identifying a plurality of stored invoicescomprising at least the same supplier identifier, wherein each of theplurality of stored invoices further comprises a buyer identifier;accessing one or more invoice settings associated with the supplieridentifier; identifying a supplier preference based on the one or moreinvoice settings, the supplier preference indicating an option toprocess an invoice on an expedited basis; identifying one or more openinvoices from the plurality of stored invoices, the open invoicesidentified by determining the invoice status for each invoice of theplurality of stored invoices, each of the one or more open invoicescomprising an open invoice status; identifying one or more closedinvoices from the plurality of stored invoices, the closed invoicesidentified by determining the invoice status for each invoice of theplurality of stored invoices, each of the one or more closed invoicescomprising a closed invoice status; for each of the one or more closedinvoices, receiving closed invoice transaction data comprising at leasta payment history and a total return of each respective closed invoice;comparing the supplier preference to each of the one or more supplierinvoices and the one or more open invoices to identify one or moreeligible invoices for expedited processing; based on identifying the oneor more eligible invoices for expedited processing, receiving one ormore invoice amounts for each of the one or more eligible invoices, theone or more invoice amounts indicating a cost of each eligible invoice,the cost associated with a transaction involving a supplier associatedwith the supplier identifier; receiving a total invoice amount allowedindicating a maximum invoice amount for the supplier; generating aninvoice score for each of the one or more open eligible invoices andeach of the stored invoice records, each invoice score based on at leasta supplier credit score, a buyer credit score, a payment schedule of arespective eligible invoice, and an expected return of the respectiveeligible invoice; comparing each of the generated invoice scores to aninvoice score threshold to identify one or more threshold invoices,wherein the one or more threshold invoices have an invoice score thatexceeds the invoice score threshold; analyzing the total invoice amount,the one or more threshold invoices, the closed invoice transaction data,and the one or more invoice amounts to identify one or more expeditedinvoices for expedited processing; sending a notice to the supplierassociated with the one or more expedited invoices for expeditedprocessing, wherein the notice comprises a list of the one or moreexpedited invoices; based on identifying the one or more expeditedinvoices, automatically transmitting a request to issue an advancepayment to a supplier associated with the one or more supplieridentifiers associated with the one or more expedited invoicesidentified for expedited processing; updating a total expedited invoiceamount to include the invoice amount associated with each of the one ormore open expedited invoices identified for expedited processing; andautomatically transmitting an advance payment notice to a buyerassociated with the buyer identifier further associated with each of theone or more expedited invoices, the notice relating to advance paymentof the one or more expedited invoices.
 8. The system of claim 7, whereinthe processing further comprises: receiving a request from the supplierrelating to the plurality of invoices; preparing a supplier invoicesummary comprising at least the buyer identifier, the invoiceidentifier, the invoice amount, the invoice status, and the invoice duedate for each of the plurality of invoices; and transmitting thesupplier invoice summary to the supplier.
 9. The system of claim 7,wherein the processing further comprises: identifying a list of one ormore responsive invoices, the responsive invoices relating to theplurality of invoices, wherein each of the one or more responsiveinvoice records relates to the same supplier; and generating a reportbased on the list of responsive invoice records.
 10. The system of claim9, wherein the processing further comprises transmitting the report toat least one of the plurality of third party invoice systems.
 11. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the processing further comprises: creatingone or more business rules, the one or more business rules relating toat least a supplier identifier; comparing the plurality of invoices tothe one or more business rules; and transmitting an invoice paymentrequest, the invoice payment request relating to payment of at least oneof the plurality of invoices.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein theprocessing further comprises: in response to transmitting the supplierinvoice summary to the supplier, receiving a supplier request, thesupplier request comprising one or more flags, the one or more flagsrelating to one or more of the plurality of invoices; transmitting anupdate request, the update request comprising a request to update theone or more of the plurality of invoices based on the one or more flags;and transmitting a message to the supplier, the message describing astatus of transmitting the update request.
 13. The system of claim 7,further comprising: receiving additional data from at least one of theplurality of third party invoice systems, the additional data relatingto at least one of the plurality of invoices; transmitting an updaterequest for at least one of the plurality of invoices, the updaterequest comprising at least a request to update the status of the atleast one of the plurality of invoices; and transmitting a status updateto the at least one of the plurality of third party invoice systems. 14.A method comprising: providing an invoice interface to a plurality ofthird party invoice systems, wherein each of the plurality of thirdparty invoice systems interact with an invoice hub server through theinvoice interface; receiving, at the invoice hub server through theinvoice interface, a plurality of invoices from the plurality of thirdparty invoice systems, wherein each of the plurality of invoices isassociated with a transaction between a supplier and a buyer, andwherein each of the plurality of invoices comprises at least a buyeridentifier, a supplier identifier associated with the supplier, aninvoice amount, and an invoice due date; generating, for each invoice ofthe plurality of invoices by the invoice hub server, an invoiceidentifier and an invoice status, the invoice status associated with aninvoice state indicating a processing status of the invoice; identifyingone or more supplier invoices from the plurality of invoices, thesupplier invoices comprising the same supplier identifier; identifying aplurality of stored invoices comprising at least the same supplieridentifier, wherein each of the plurality of stored invoices furthercomprises a buyer identifier; analyzing, by a machine-learning (ML)module in the invoice hub server, the one or more supplier invoices andthe plurality of stored invoices for determining invoices to expedite,the analyzing further comprising: accessing one or more invoice settingsassociated with the supplier identifier; identifying a supplierpreference based on the one or more invoice settings, the supplierpreference indicating an option to process an invoice on an expeditedbasis; identifying one or more open invoices from the plurality ofstored invoices, the open invoices identified by determining the invoicestate for each invoice of the plurality of stored invoices, each of theone or more open invoices comprising an open invoice state; comparingthe supplier preference to each of the one or more supplier invoices andthe one or more open invoices to identify one or more eligible invoicesfor expedited processing; based on identifying the one or more eligibleinvoices for expedited processing, receiving one or more invoice amountsfor each of the one or more eligible invoices, the one or more invoiceamounts indicating a cost of each eligible invoice, the cost associatedwith a transaction involving a supplier associated with the supplieridentifier; receiving a total invoice amount allowed indicating amaximum invoice amount for the supplier; generating an invoice score foreach of the one or more eligible invoices, each invoice score based onat least a supplier credit score, a buyer credit score, a paymentschedule of a respective eligible invoice, and an expected return of therespective eligible invoice; analyzing the total invoice amount, the oneor more eligible invoices, the invoice score for each of the one or moreeligible invoices, and the one or more invoice amounts; based onanalyzing the total invoice amount, the one or more eligible invoices,the invoice score for each of the one or more eligible invoices, and theone or more invoice amounts, identifying one or more expedited invoicesfrom the one or more eligible invoices for expedited processing; basedon identifying the one or more expedited invoices, automaticallytransmitting an advance payment to the supplier associated with the oneor more supplier identifiers associated with the one or more expeditedinvoices identified for expedited processing; updating a total expeditedinvoice amount to include the invoice amount associated with each of theone or more expedited invoices identified for expedited processing; andautomatically transmitting an advance payment notice to a buyerassociated with a buyer identifier associated with each of the expeditedinvoices, the notice relating to advance payment of the one or moreexpedited invoices identified for expedited processing.
 15. The methodof claim 14, further comprising: receiving, by the invoice hub server, arequest for information from the supplier, the request for informationrelating to the plurality of invoices; preparing, by the invoice hubserver, a supplier invoice summary, the supplier invoice summarycomprising at least the buyer identifier, the invoice identifier, theinvoice amount, the invoice status, and the invoice due date for each ofthe plurality of invoices; and transmitting, by the invoice hub server,the supplier invoice summary to the supplier.
 16. The method of claim14, further comprising: identifying, by the invoice hub server, a listof one or more responsive invoices, the responsive invoice recordsrelating to the one or more eligible invoices; and generating, by theinvoice hub server, an invoice report based on the list of one or moreresponsive invoices, the invoice report comprising the one or moreeligible invoices.
 17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:creating, by the invoice hub server, one or more invoice business rules,the one or more invoice business rules comprising one or more conditionsrelating to the one or more expedited invoices; comparing, by theinvoice hub server, the one or more expedited invoices to the one ormore invoice business rules; in response to comparing the one or moreexpedited invoices to the one or more invoice business rules, generatingone or more additional invoice business rules; and transmitting, by theinvoice hub server, an invoice payment request, the invoice paymentrequest relating to payment of the one or more expedited invoicerecords, wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least the buyeridentifier.
 18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: in responseto transmitting the supplier invoice summary to the supplier, receiving,by the invoice hub server, a supplier request, the supplier requestcomprising one or more flags, the one or more flags relating to theplurality of invoices; transmitting, by the invoice hub server, anupdate request, the update request comprising a request to update one ormore of the plurality of invoices based on the one or more flags; andtransmitting, by the invoice hub server, a message to the supplier, themessage describing a status of transmitting the update request.
 19. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising: receiving, by the invoice hubserver, additional data from at least one of the plurality of thirdparty invoice systems, the additional data relating to the plurality ofinvoices; transmitting, by the invoice hub server, an update request forthe plurality of invoices, the update request comprising at least arequest to update the status of at least one of the plurality ofinvoices; and transmitting, by the invoice hub server, a status updateto the at least one of the plurality of third party invoice systems.